England captain David Beckham reckons Teddy Sheringham should be part of next year's World Cup squad.

The 35-year-old Tottenham striker brought England back into last month's World Cup qualifier with Greece at Old Trafford when he scored with his first touch, before Beckham sealed a place in the finals in Japan and Korea with a stunning last-gasp free-kick.

Beckham feels his former Manchester United team-mate, who has more than 40 caps, would bring vital experience to Sven-Goran Erkisson's party.

Beckham said: "You need experienced players going into a World Cup and there is none more experienced than Teddy.

"When Teddy's on the pitch he's always got a chance of scoring because he's such an intelligent player.

"People talk about his age, but if he's still playing like he is for Tottenham as well as England now he deserves every chance he gets."

Meanwhile, the Scottish Football Association plan to meet Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson to see if he would like to have a major role in the future of the game north of border when he retires at the end of the season.

The 59-year-old Scot, who coached the national team for a brief period following the death of Jock Stein in 1985, has already ruled out taking over from manager Craig Brown,.

But the SFA are nevertheless keen to seek Ferguson's input as they look to rebuild for the 2004 European Championships.

"We are not going there to offer him the Scotland job as he has stated quite clearly that he is not interested," SFA chief executive David Taylor said.

"But we will have a wide-ranging football discussion and we are obviously interested in what he is going to be doing in later life."